by Alan T. Baldwin, FAIA
President/CEO, FreemanWhite Inc.

Summary: Recruitment and retention of young staff is a critical issue for today’s firm. FreemanWhite Inc. is an example of a firm that transformed itself into a client-centric practice by infusing education and teaching into the firm culture. Today, with a turnover rate of 7.6 percent versus 11 percent for the industry, and an errors/omissions rate that currently stands at less than 1 percent versus 3-4 percent industry-wide, the firm is a testament to the benefits inherent in investing in staff.

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In the early 1990s, FreemanWhite embarked on a comprehensive strategic planning process resulting in an entirely new business direction. The plan included goals to increase both the depth of our health-care (hospital and senior living) markets and the breadth of our services. To entice and enhance the multi-faceted employee base necessary to accomplish these goals, we recognized the need for a structured and yet flexible educational program. As a result, The FreemanWhite Academy (encompassing an Intern Development Program) was born.

The FreemanWhite Academy currently provides more than 75 courses tailored to meet 15 of the 16 IDP Training Categories, as well as the specific requirements of 43 staff positions. Firm-wide, it supports more than 330 licenses across 38 states, memberships in upwards of 55 different associations, and close to 200 employees in four offices. These figures, when combined with our annual dollar commitment to education, i.e., 3-3.5 percent of our gross income, handsomely relay our firm’s continuing education story.

Thanks, in part, to our educational prerogatives/perquisites, our growth goals have continued over the past decade. In January this year, we completed a move into our new 50,000-square-foot headquarter building in Charlotte, which includes a 960-square-foot training center for the FreemanWhite Academy. Although unable to pinpoint the precise amount of influence the educational component has exerted on our growth, we do know that every day our employees and clients enter this new building, our profession reaps the benefits in the form of a newly registered architect, improved process, or innovative idea. Unqualifiedly, we are wholeheartedly dedicated to an intense continuing educative process.

Growth through education
The FreemanWhite Academy has also spun-off a unique national communications program. Knowing that an educated employee also makes good business sense, we decided to capitalize on our growing knowledge base beyond our current employees and clients. Why not build knowledge awareness among potential clients as well as the profession? Hence, we created a program to take our specialized learning beyond the walls of our firm.

Launched in 2001, the Expert Exposure Program was designed to enhance our firm’s reputation through nationally published articles written by our educated professionals. Naturally, as the firm grows, so do the educational opportunities for our current and emerging architects. With The FreemanWhite Academy as an educational catalyst, we now have an external marketing overlay to bolster our internal marketing efforts. Additionally, these published articles become a vital source of marketing fuel that can be used across many marketing vehicles, e.g., brochures, proposals, presentations, and seminars.

Certainly, we have yet to exhaust the many innovative possibilities or accrue all the benefits that can be derived from educating a firm. Nevertheless, along with numerous qualitative or anecdotal benefits, we also derive quantitative benefits that we believe result from our educational focus, e.g., our current retention rate of 7.6 percent versus 11 percent for the industry and our errors/omissions Rate, which currently stands at less than 1 percent versus 3–4 percent industry-wide.

What can I do in my firm?
For firms that may not have the resources to fund a program similar to ours, I would hope that the AIA’s Strategies for Firms program would become “a must read.” It offers a multitude of ideas for recruiting and retaining staff, particularly young staff who care deeply about professional development, without conditions such as employee size or amount of resource. This cafeteria-style menu of ideas can, at minimum, begin a dialogue about continuing education within every firm.

2007 Survey of Firm Support
Beginning in 2007, the AIA national component invites firms to submit a listing of the resources and programs they provide; this information will be compiled and published annually in the spring. Through this listing, students, interns, and other professionals will have direct access to information about firms to make better decisions about their careers. It is another way to learn about alternative continuing education paths while participating in a survey that might lead to improvements in the educational opportunities within our everyday practice(s).
Please participate.